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There are very few industries capable of boasting a product that rakes in $15 billion in revenue a year. And that's constantly in demand and completely unaffected by Wall Street or political turmoil.
Underwear is one of those industries.
Bryan Lalezarian, Jonathan Shokrian, and their company MeUndies have cashed in on this lucrative industry. The company's e-commerce site began as a subscription underwear service and has now reached its fourth year, reporting a 3x growth year-over-year.
But in a LA tech scene where innovation is key, Lalezarian says keeping the product simple is his most important business philosophy.
"People want to see this elaborate product roadmap of all these things you're launching over time and how you’re going to scale," he said. "I think that’s the disconnect. Our growth strategy isn’t launching new products all the time — it's gaining market share and distribution."
Lalezarian said he modeled MeUndies after two very different, very successful companies.
"In-N-Out makes one product — the hamburger. At the end of the day, they’re making one thing. If you look at their kitchen, they're efficient and buying only a few ingredients. They can make a really good product at a low cost and, from a marketing perspective, you get known for making the best burger. I literally apply that same philosophy at MeUndies. We are known for making the best underwear. We’re buying the same fabric and materials every time which helps our cost and quality, and it allows us to focus our product development efforts on consistently improving that product."
But it's not just burgers that Lalezarian's learned a thing or two from.
"If you look at Beats, headphones aren’t a new category," he added. "The headphones you get with your iPhone aren’t very different than the one’s you got with you walkman 20 years ago. But Beats is a great example of someone who walked in to that industry and was brilliant at creating a brand and marketing a product in the right way."
The site has maintained a very strong marketing focus, drawing from local LA writers, videographers, models, and actors to create content that highlights a new product or MeUndies user.
MeUndies was the first company to be backed by Science Inc. — who went on to back Dollar Shave Club and DogVacay — and says they will be closing a Series B round in the near future.
